Run with Burros

Run with Burros

Join us where the Sierra Nevada meets the Mojave Desert as the mining and burro heritage is brought back and honored by “Running with the Burros”.

We invite individual runners and runners with burros to compete on a challenging course in the canyons of the southern Sierra Nevada.

Let’s get one thing straight right away. Burro is the Spanish word for donkey, which is the same as an ass. All three words have identical meaning. The jokes write themselves, but ass is a completely proper word not to be avoided.

Burro races are a long tradition in the mining community. Locally, Randsburg, Lone Pine, Death Valley, and Beatty have had burro races as far back as 1897. There were even 2.5-day 42-mile races from Apple Valley to Big Bear. Pack burro racing in the current format has been a tradition since 1949 where runners on foot race long distances with a pack burro as a team (one burro with each runner), guiding them with only a halter, lead rope, voice, and their bond as a team.

Not everyone can own or borrow burro, so this run allows anyone to compete. Run, hike, crawl, with or without a burro. This event offers an introductory experience, and we hope it is the first of many new pack burro races in California.